Zone of Crisis

With varying degrees, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq are the four West Asian nations encountering transition, tumult and turmoil, particularly since 2001. To secure peace in the area, it is crucial to understand not just the contexts, modern history and the internal variables which affect all these states, but also the external pressures and intrusions by major powers (p. 14). Amin Saikal, head of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, declares that until an understanding of the factors affecting peace and progress inside and around those countries is achieved, the region will remain a zone of perpetual tension and instability. He contends that events in this critical region have the potential to destabilise the entire international system. The interconnectedness of these four countries means that any decision made internally or externally can ‘send ripples across the landscape to surrounding nations, with destabilising effects that often create zones of conflict’ (p. 184).